Andrew Fountain - The Almost Unbelievable Prayer

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The Almost Unbelievable Prayer (Ephesians pt 5)

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Full sermon notes - Ephesians pt5: The Almost Unbelievable Prayer

(link to my own translation from the Greek text)

  • First where we are up to:
  • Earlier in the series I talked about being “united with Christ”
  • If we fully grasp this then it will have a big impact on us
    • What have we to fear—we are secure
    • Illustration of the large ship that went down

Ephesians

  • Ephesians falls into two halves
  • Part one (chs 1-3) explains the truth, tells us what reality is about
  • Part two (chs 4-6) tells us how we should live by this truth
  • Closing part 1 is a prayer
  • “No prayer that has ever been framed has uttered a bolder request.” (J. A. Robinson)

Outline 1

  1. For this cause, I bend my knee to the Father
  2.       from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named
    • Body of the prayer
  3. To him now, who is able to do beyond measure above all that we ask or think
  4. to him be glory
          in the church
          and in Christ Jesus
          throughout all generations,
          forever and ever. Amen.

Outline 2

  1. For this cause, I bend my knee to the Father
          from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named
  • that he may give you according to the riches of his glory
  • that you may have full strength to grasp hold of, with all the holy ones...
  • that you may be filled up into all the fullness of God
  1. To him now, who is able to do beyond measure above all that we ask or think
  2. to him be glory, in the church, and in Christ Jesus
          throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:14–21

  1. For this cause, I bend my knee to the Father
  2.             from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named
  3. that he may give you according to the riches of his glory
          to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person
  4.       to be indwelt by Christ, throught faith, in your hearts
                      in love rooted and built (foundationed)
  5. that you may have full strength to grasp hold of, with all the holy ones,
          what is the breadth and length and height and depth
  6.       to know then the “far beyond knowable” love of Christ
    that you may be filled up into all the fullness of God
  7. To him now, who is able to do beyond measure above all that we ask or think
          according to the power working within us
  8. to him be glory
          in the church
          and in Christ Jesus
          throughout all generations,
          forever and ever. Amen.

Version: NET Bible

Notes on references to earlier in Ephesians

v.14 Paul prays with boldness:

3:11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,
3:12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

v.15 things in heaven and things on earth

1:9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ
1:10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

v.16 compare with previous prayer:

1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,
1:18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know
  • what is the hope to which he has called you,
  • what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
1:19
  • and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
1:20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places...

v.17 Christ dwelling in your hearts

2:20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
2:21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
2:22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

v.18 Holy ones

1:15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the holy ones,
2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God,
2:21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

v.18b breadth and length and height and depth

  • Two pairs of extremes expressing totality
  • Probably best taken as the scale of our destiny (see things in heaven and things on earth + ending verse)

v.19b fullness

1:23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
  • The two lines are the same thing:
    1. Fee, God’s Empowering Presence, 697: “‘The power that is at work in us’ is precisely what was said above in vv. 16–17: ‘to be strengthened by his power through the Spirit in the inner person,’ which takes the form of ‘Christ and thereby his love dwelling in our hearts by faith.’ ”

v.20 His power is already known

1:19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
1:20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

Version: NET Bible

Supernatural

  • It seems it requires a supernatural empowering even to understand this!
    • To grasp hold of it.
    • too big
  • If you are not a follower of Jesus yet
    • This is exactly what you need—enlightenment to grasp it

Updated on 2013-01-17 by Andrew Fountain